What are some book recommendations for Sulcata tortoises?
- Thread starter MilesTheTortoise
- Start date
Chubbs the tegu
Well-Known Member
Go to the sulcata section on here. Its the Best book Avail. 
There are none. They are all wrong. Even the recent ones. All of them have the same wrong dry info that has been parroted from generation to generation for 30 years, since sulcatas were first made available in this country.
The first ones came in in the 70s. They belonged to Bill Zovickian. He lived in Connecticut at the time and quickly grew tired of carrying them up and down the stairs every time the weather changed, so he gave them to the San Antonio zoo, which was the first place to captive reproduce them in this country in 1979. They were not widely available to the public for another 10 years around 1990, which is when I got my first one. For 20 years I followed the wrong info from all those books and the people who wrote them. I've met some of them now.
The only book that was halfway decent went out of print 20 years ago. "The Crying Tortoise" is the only sulcata book I've read that has helpful or accurate info in it. I have a copy, but not letting it go.
The book you linked has a pyramided baby on the cover. They don't pyramid like that in the wild, but authors like that one don't have a clue that they are doing it wrong. It looks like that because it is being kept too dry. Here is a similar angle and age for one of my babies that is NOT pyramiding because I don't keep them too dry:
The first ones came in in the 70s. They belonged to Bill Zovickian. He lived in Connecticut at the time and quickly grew tired of carrying them up and down the stairs every time the weather changed, so he gave them to the San Antonio zoo, which was the first place to captive reproduce them in this country in 1979. They were not widely available to the public for another 10 years around 1990, which is when I got my first one. For 20 years I followed the wrong info from all those books and the people who wrote them. I've met some of them now.
The only book that was halfway decent went out of print 20 years ago. "The Crying Tortoise" is the only sulcata book I've read that has helpful or accurate info in it. I have a copy, but not letting it go.
The book you linked has a pyramided baby on the cover. They don't pyramid like that in the wild, but authors like that one don't have a clue that they are doing it wrong. It looks like that because it is being kept too dry. Here is a similar angle and age for one of my babies that is NOT pyramiding because I don't keep them too dry:
